From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

On Jan 1, 2026 at 9:30:42 AM PST, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

In the early 1980s, Atari became involved in a legal issue with a place yourCOd never expect: Saturday Night Live.

This video unpacks a strange but true story where two completely
different corners of pop culture briefly collided rCo not over a parody,
not over a disagreement, but over something much smaller that ended up
in the wrong place.

https://youtu.be/CMQzsh5tRak?si=HvpPizqvbh7uH24U

This case was ridiculous, which is why it never was an actual legal case in
the first place. All SNL ever did was send Atari a cease-and-desist letter. If they'd taken it any farther, they would have certainly lost.

Basically Atari programmers informally referred to the two flying saucers in the Asteroids game as Sluggo and Mr. Bill, two characters from SNL that were trademarked. Industry gaming magazines took note of the nicknames when interviewing Atari employees and writing articles about Asteroids. SNL claimed Atari had created an "unauthorized association" between their game and SNL's IP.

But Atari had done no such thing. Some Atari employees referencing pop culture in the workplace does not create a legal violation. If anyone created the unauthorized association-- if that's actually even a thing legally-- it would have been the magazines that published the articles.

SNL was basically claiming that people in their day-to-day lives aren't
allowed to even say the names of copyrighted and trademarked characters. Imagine STAR WARS fans being legally prohibited from even being able to
mention the names Darth Vader and Han Solo. It's ridiculous on its face. Which is why SNL was limited to just sending angry letters. If they'd taken it to court, they would certainly have lost.


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